Method and system for monitoring and validating electronic transactions

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a method for detection of misuse of an identity during an electronic transaction. In a first embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: receiving a notification to authenticate the use of an identity at a first location, wherein the identity is associated with a first wireless terminal; determining an approximate location of the first wireless terminal based on cached position information, the approximate location of the first wireless terminal being a second location; determining whether the first and second locations match in geographical proximity; and generating an alert if the first and second locations do not match in geographical proximity. In a second embodiment, an approximate location of the first wireless terminal is determined based on cached position information stored in a GPS position database. In a third embodiment, the approximate location of the first wireless terminal is automatically determined prior to the initiation of a transaction.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/290,988 filed on Nov. 7, 2011 and published Mar. 1, 2012 asdocument 2012/0052881, which is a divisional of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/260,065 filed on Oct. 28, 2008 and published Apr. 23, 2009as document 2009/0102712, which is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/346,240 filed on Feb. 3, 2006 and published Oct.26, 2006 as document 2006/0237531, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,503,489, which,in turn, claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication App. No. 60/674,709, filed Apr. 26, 2005. This applicationis also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/065,691filed on Mar. 28, 2011 and published Sep. 29, 2011 as document No.2011/0239274, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/357,380 filed on Jan. 21, 2009 and publishedSep. 3, 2009 as document 2009/0222891, which is a Continuation-in-Partof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/405,789 filed on Apr. 18, 2006and published Sep. 6, 2007 as document 2007/0208934 which, in turn,claims the benefit of priority from provisional application No.60/711,346 filed on Aug. 25, 2005. This application is also acontinuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/600,808 filed onMay 29, 2007 and published Jun. 17, 2010 as document No. 2010/0153733.The contents of each of the above-named applications are incorporatedherein by reference in their entireties, for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and system for monitoring commercialelectronic transactions, and methods for estimating the probability thata pending electronic transaction is fraudulent.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As credit card and debit card purchases have expanded both in number andin the methods by which they can be accomplished, particularlyelectronic purchases, the opportunity for fraudulent, invalid orunauthorized purchases has increased. The expansion of such purchaseopportunities has resulted in an increase in monetary losses to sellers,merchants, financial institutions and authorized holders of theauthorized credit card and debit cards. In response, methods and systemshave been developed to reduce the number of fraudulent purchases throughverification processes and systems.

Merchants, in concert with the providers of consumer payment systems,are currently migrating away from the use of magnetic stripes on debitand credit cards which require a swipe through a magnetic card reader.So-called “tap & pay” devices contain an embedded chip and radiofrequency antenna which, in the presence of an appropriate radiofrequency query, transmit the user's account information to a merchant'sreceiver device. The use of such radio frequency identification (“RFID”)devices adds convenience and speed to payment transactions. Such devicesare also used to unlock security doors and gates, admitting to secureareas only those individuals who are in possession of the appropriateRFID device. A variation that is growing in popularity eliminates thecredit card entirely by placing such RFID devices within consumers'mobile phones or other personal wireless devices. As used herein,“credit card tap” and “tap & pay” will refer to both card-based andmobile phone- and wireless device-based embodiments of the technology.

In theory, because an RFID device does not need to leave the user'shand, and typically has a broadcast range measured in inches, securityis improved relative to magnetic stripe devices which are susceptible tosurreptitious swiping by dishonest employees. However, an RFID devicecan be induced to broadcast the owner's account and identity informationto a receiver operated by a fraudster or data thief. An illicit receiverplaced close to the point of sale can capture the broadcast informationat the time the tap & pay transaction is being made. A data thief canalso carry on his person a transmitter and receiver that induce nearbyRFID devices to transmit their owners' financial and personalinformation. With such a device, it is possible to “harvest” personaldata from a large number of RFID devices merely by getting physicallyclose to victims' wallets or purses, an easy task in a crowded store orelevator. In a process known as “cloning”, the harvested information islater used by the thief, or by persons who have paid the thief for thedata, to program counterfeit RFID devices that can be used toimpersonate the rightful owner in fraudulent “tap & pay” transactions,or to access locations that are secured by RFID identification tags. AnInternet-based underground market already exists for supplying criminalswith the necessary equipment and software, and for the distribution andsale of the harvested data.

Traditional credit card transactions can be completed in about a minute,whereas RFID-mediated transactions require only a few seconds. For thisreason, there is a need for accelerated means of verifying identity andauthenticating “tap & pay” transactions in less than a second.

An example of a method of increasing the security of payments made bycredit and cash cards is set forth in U.S. Patent Publication No.20040073519.

Another example of a method of increasing the security of payments madeby credit and cash cards is set forth in U.S. Patent Publication No.20040254868.

US Patent Publication No. 20040219904 sets forth methods of improvingthe security of transactions using geographic locations.

International Patent Application No. WO 2004/079499 of Eden et al.describes a method of verifying user identity in which the geographiclocation of a mobile network device, which is known to be carried by auser, is compared with the geographic location from which a transactionrequest is initiated. A substantially similar system is disclosed in USPatent Publication No. 20030169881 (U.S. Pat. No. 7,376,431), whichdescribes a fraud prevention system employing geographic comparison of aposition sensor on a person and a separate position sensor at the pointof sale.

A cellular telephone location system for automatically recording thelocation of one or more mobile cellular telephones, known as TimeDifference on Arrival (TDOA), is described, for example, in U.S. Pat.No. 5,327,144. The system comprises a central site system operativelycoupled to at least three cell sites. Each of the cell sites receivescellular telephone signals and integrates a timing signal common to allthe cell sites. The central site calculates differences in times ofarrival of the cellular telephone signals arriving among the cell sitesand thereby calculates the position of the cellular telephone producingthe cellular telephone signals. Additional examples of known methods forlocating phones are cell sector and cell site. The full disclosure ofU.S. Pat. No. 5,327,144 is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

The need for rapid and accurate geolocation of mobile voice devices isnot limited to the authentication of commercial transactions. FederalCommunications Commission (FCC) has mandated wireless Enhanced 911(E911) rules to improve the effectiveness and reliability of wireless911 service. One requirement is that 95% of a network operator'sin-service phones must be E911 compliant, i.e., location capable,whether via GPS circuitry in the handset or via radiolocation throughthe network. At present, carriers must provide 911 dispatchers at aPublic Safety Answering Point (PSAP) with the telephone number of awireless 911 caller, and the location of the antenna that received thecall, but the rules call for the provision of more accurate geolocationdata in the future. There is, accordingly, a need in the field of publicsafety for the rapid and automatic acquisition of cell phone locationinformation.

Prior art transaction authentication methods based on geolocation of amobile voice device are, in general, not capable of authenticatingtransactions in a matter of a few seconds, or in less than a second. Inparticular, they do not suggest capturing automatically the user'smobile voice device broadcast information while the user is at the pointof sale, and using such broadcast information to request the mobilevoice device location information from the carrier, before the creditcard transaction takes place or before the user provides the credit cardinformation to the merchant. Prior art methods request the mobile phonelocation after the initiation of a transaction and the provision of thecredit card information, therefore the time required for authenticationis extended by the time needed to locate the mobile phone.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides methods for facilitating the detection ofmisuse of an identity during an electronic transaction. The presentinvention comprises several embodiments. In a first embodiment, themethod comprises the steps of: receiving a notification to authenticatethe use of an identity at a first location, wherein the identity isassociated with a first wireless terminal; determining an approximatelocation of the first wireless terminal based on cached positioninformation, the approximate location of the first wireless terminalbeing a second location; determining whether the first and secondlocations match in geographical proximity; and generating an alert ifthe first and second locations do not match in geographical proximity.In a second embodiment, an approximate location of the first wirelessterminal is determined based on cached position information stored on aGPS position database. For some embodiments, an approximate geographicallocation of the Internet user is determined using wireless technology.

Mobile carriers' location infrastructure allows accurate geographiclocation of a mobile phone within about 30 seconds. In order to minimizeinconvenience to consumers and merchants anti-fraud assessments shouldbe done within a few seconds or in less than a second. The methods ofthe present invention reduce the time involved in identifying andcomparing the locations of a mobile voice device and a transactionrequest. The ability to establish a mobile phone location before theuser is making the credit card transaction, and use such mobile phonelocation to authenticate such POS transaction in a few seconds or less,will improve the use of mobile phone location in anti-fraud assessment.Some companies will not use mobile phone location information inantifraud assessment if getting such information takes more than a fewseconds, because such additional time affects the time the customer hasto wait for authorization.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing exemplary hardware elementsthat can enable the practice of the various embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of an exemplary first wirelessterminal fitted with a GPS receiver operatively coupled to an inertialnavigation system according to one aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a non-limiting example of a user registration processaccording to one aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a non-limiting flow chart of one embodiment of theinvention.

It should be understood that the attached figures are illustrative, andare not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and system for monitoring electronictransactions. In general terms, in one aspect of the invention a useridentity (such as the user's credit card, cash card, etc.) is associatedwith a first wireless terminal, e.g., the user's cell phone. Theposition of the user's cell phone is determined at intervals and cached(i.e., archived) to provide a stream of regularly updatedpre-transaction positions. Each cached pre-transaction position can bestored on a remote position database (PDB) or on the user's cell phone.If the user's identity such as the user's credit or cash card is laterused, for example, at a point of sale (POS) electronic terminal having aknown location (being a first location), the invention detects the useof the user's credit card (i.e., identity) at the first location andcompares the first location with the most recent cached position of theuser's cell phone (now treated as a pre-transaction position to providea second location for comparison). Specifically, a determination is madeas to whether the first and second locations match in geographicalproximity. If the first and second locations do not match ingeographical proximity, the invention generates an alert or advisorymessage that is communicated to a predetermined notification device,such as the user's email account, a POS electronic terminal, a financialinstitution's computers or offices (such as the user's credit cardcompany's computers, etc.). The alert can also be a reply message forblocking an associated electronic transaction at the first location.

The invention can be adjusted such that as each new pre-transactionposition corresponding to the user's cell phone becomes available, thenew pre-transaction position can be used to overwrite the currentlyarchived pre-transaction position to prevent illicit or unauthorizedtracking of the user's movements.

In another aspect of the invention, if the latest archivedpre-transaction location (i.e., second location) and known POS location(i.e., first location) don't match, a post-transaction position (being athird location) of the user's cell phone is obtained and compared to theknown first location and an alert generated if the post-transactionlocation (third location) and known POS location (first location) do notmatch in geographical proximity. Such matching can be based on apredetermined distance. For example, if the post-transaction location ofthe user's cell phone is determined to be more than 5 miles from theknown POS location, an alert is generated and communicated to apredetermined device such as the user's cell phone and/or email address,and/or to an appropriate financial institution such as the user's bankor a credit card company's computers, the user's wireless personaldigital assistant or a user's wireless enabled laptop, etc. Thus, if theactual position of the user's cell phone is not available at about thetime of the transaction, the pre or post-transaction position of theuser's cell phone can be used to determine if an alert is warranted.

For example, the user's cell phone may include a GPS receiver capable ofdetermining the position of the user's cell phone, but only if theuser's GPS capable cell phone is able to receive GPS signals necessaryto calculate the location of the user's cell phone. GPS signals aretransmitted by dedicated satellites and are often not strong enough tobe received inside buildings where many ATM and POS terminals arelocated. The invention provides a non-obvious way of monitoring the useof one or more identities (such as a credit card or cash card number)associated with a user regardless of the ability of a user's cell phoneto pick up GPS signals at the time of transaction (i.e., when the user'sidentity is used to authorize a transaction).

Specifically, through such monitoring, the invention facilitates thedetection of a possible fraudulent or an invalid electronic purchaseinvolving the use of a user's identity, for example, a credit card,debit card or any other kind of electronic payment or purchase systemincluding biometric based purchases. Upon detection of suspect purchaseor transaction (such as a cash withdrawal at an ATM), an advisorymessage is communicated to a predetermined notification device. Theintent of this invention is to provide an alert upon detection of aninappropriate purchase or transaction.

The invention is now described in more detail. A computer signature(unique ID) is created by identifying certain characteristics of thecomputer. These characteristics act as identifiers of the computer ormobile wireless terminal such as PDA, Mobile Phone, Smart Phone, Mobilecomputer, Laptop, Mini Laptop or any such device with computing andcommunicating via wireless capabilities. Every device that is connectedto the Internet has a few unique identifiers such as, but not limitedto: Computer Network MAC address, CPU serial number, Operating SystemS/N, Cookie, and more. In addition to the above, the computer uses othernetwork resources that have unique identifiers such as, but not limitedto, a Gateway or Router MAC address. In addition to the above, everycomputer has common identifiers such as, but not limited to: Operatingsystem version, Disk Size, Internet browser version, hardware installedon the computer, network card speed, Operating system patches installedon the computer, CPU speed, memory size, cookie, secret cookie, virtualmemory size, unique software installed by vendor which can uniquelyidentify the user or other installed software on the computer, and more.Using one or more common identifiers together, it is possible to createone unique computer signature for any given computer.

Online vendors request from the Internet user a contact number for awireless communications device, which is accessible to the Internet userat the Internet user's current location or, alternatively, use theInternet user's wireless communication device to locate the user'sgeographical location. “Wireless communication device”, as used in thecontext of the present invention, applies to any communication devicecapable of communicating with another communication device via wirelesstechnology or determining the Internet user's location using wirelesstechnology. Non-limiting examples include Wi-Fi™, WiMAX, antennatriangulation, Cell ID, GPS, Galileo, radio or any other such wirelessnetworks known now or in the future.

When the Internet user provides a contact number for his wirelesscommunication device, or similarly effective contact information, thevendor may use the contact information to access the Internet user'swireless device, or to request the geographical location of suchwireless communication device from the carrier or aggregator. Thecarrier or aggregator will reply with the geographical locationinformation and may also provide additional parameters such as ‘phoneaccuracy’ or ‘location error’. Other possible methods includegeo-locating the Internet user's wireless device using wirelessinformation provided from such wireless communication device. Thegeo-location of the Internet user's wireless device is then associatedwith the Internet user. Another method of obtaining wirelesscommunication device geographical location is by getting thegeographical information directly from the wireless communication deviceby using HTML5. In a separate step, the location of the Internet usermay be compared with the location of the computer which the Internetuser was using to reach the vendor (in some cases, the same as thewireless device) for authentication purposes.

By identifying the Internet user's unique ID (or computer signature) aweb site can get the geographical location associated with that user.Determining the Internet user's geographical location using wirelesstechnology will allow improved services to the Internet user. Forexample: if Google™ knows exactly where the Internet user isgeographically located then Google™ can provide search results that arerelevant to that Internet user's geographical location. If an Internetuser is searching for “pizza” then Google™ can provide the closest pizzashop to the Internet user's location.

It should be understood that the terms “wireless terminal”, “wirelesscommunication device” and “mobile voice device”, as used in the contextof the present invention, apply to any device capable of communicatingwith a wireless network or cellular system. A non-limiting example of afirst wireless terminal includes a cellular telephone. Othernon-limiting examples include devices that have been modified ordesigned to communicate with a wireless network, such as a PersonalDigital Assistant (“PDA”), such as a Wi-Fi™ capable PDA, or aBlackberry™ (such as the Blackberry™ 7520 model).

The predetermined notification device can be any suitable device capableof receiving communications directly or indirectly from a wirelessnetwork, such as, but not limited to: a first mobile terminal, a secondmobile terminal, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) capable ofcommunicating with a wireless network, a laptop computer capable ofcommunicating with a wireless network, a message server, and an emailserver, an electronic terminal 120, alone or in combination. An alertmay be sent to an electronic terminal 120 at the first location, whereinthe alert prevents a transaction associated with the identity.

The position of a mobile terminal can be determined by, for example, aninternal positioning apparatus and an external position apparatus, aloneor in combination. Examples of internal positioning apparatus include aGPS receiver built into the mobile terminal that receives GlobalPositioning System (“GPS”) radio signals transmitted from GPSsatellites. The GPS system can be supplemented with an INS (inertialnavigation system) also built into the mobile terminal (see FIG. 2).

The external positioning apparatus can be a cellular positioning systemthat computes the position of the mobile terminal by observing timedifferences among the arrivals of a radio signal transmitted by themobile terminal at a plurality of observation points, i.e., basestations, which typically form part of the wireless network.Alternatively, the external positioning apparatus could be a single basestation that the mobile terminal is in contact with. Each base stationhas a particular base station ID and a location associated with the basestation ID. Thus, the location of a mobile terminal can be approximatedto the actual location of a base station, although, given that thetypical area covered by a base station may be about one kilometer, theposition of the mobile terminal will not be known with accuracy.

The role of base stations in wireless networks is described, forexample, in “Cellular Radio Systems”, published by Artech House, Boston(editors: D. M. Balston and R. C. V. Macario; ISBN: 0-89006-646-9);“Digital Cellular Radio” written by G. Calhoun and published by ArtechHouse, Boston (ISBN: 0-89006-266-8). “Cellular Radio Systems” and“Digital Cellular Radio” are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

The position of a mobile terminal can also be tracked using externalRFID tags (Radio Frequency Identification tags) in combination with anRFID reader built into the mobile terminal. How RFID tags and readerswork is described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20050143916 publishedJun. 30, 2005 to Kim, In-Jun, et al. U.S. Patent Publication No.20050143916 is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided forfacilitating the detection of misuse of an identity during an electronictransaction. The first embodiment comprises the steps of: receiving anotification to authenticate the use of an identity at a first location,wherein the identity is associated with a first wireless terminal;determining an approximate location of the first wireless terminal basedon cached position information, the approximate location of the firstwireless terminal being a second location; determining whether the firstand second locations match in geographical proximity; and generating analert if the first and second locations do not match in geographicalproximity.

The cached position information can be cached GPS position informationstored on the first wireless terminal. The step of determining thesecond location can further comprise the step of updating the cachedposition information with an inertial navigation system correctionperformed by the first wireless terminal to provide an updated locationof the first wireless terminal, the updated location being the secondlocation.

In one aspect of the first embodiment, the step of determining thesecond location further comprises the step of detecting whether GPSsignals are being received by the first wireless terminal to determine apost-transaction location of the first wireless terminal, thepost-transaction location being the second location. The step ofdetecting whether sufficient GPS signals are being received by the firstwireless terminal for the first terminal to determine a post-transactionis only performed if cached position information is not stored on thefirst wireless terminal or if the cached position information is stale.The cached position information is regarded as stale if the informationhas not been updated for a predetermined time period, e.g., has not beenupdated within the last 30 minutes, 15 minutes or even 5 minutes. Thepredetermined time period defining when the cached position informationis updated can vary and may be factory set or optionally set by theowner or user of the identity.

The first wireless terminal can be any device that can wirelesslycommunicate with a network, such as a cell phone, which can communicatewirelessly with a wireless network. The terms “cell” and “cellular” areregarded as equivalent terms, as are “cell phone” and “smart phone”.

The identity can be a credit card number, an account number, a debitcard identification number, a driver's license number, a name andaddress, a social security number, a telephone number, a finger print,an iris scan identity, a retina scan identity, and a membership identity(such as a membership password), alone or in combination. The identitycan also be any suitable biometric identity, such as a fingerprint, aniris scan identity and a retina scan identity, alone or in combination.

With respect to the notification associated with the use of the identityat the first location, the notification can be generated, for example,by an electronic transaction device (such as a credit card reader at arestaurant, an ATM machine such as a cash-withdrawal terminal thatincorporates a card reader) at the first location or by, for example, acredit card company in communication with the electronic device at thefirst location.

It should be understood that the electronic transaction device could beany suitable device where the identity can be entered for the purpose ofperforming an electronic transaction. For example, a credit card with acredit card number can be read by the electronic device, and the creditcard number communicated to the credit card company associated with thecredit card, and in response the credit card company generates anotification, which is routed to the first wireless terminal. Inresponse to receiving the notification, the first wireless terminaldetermines its location based on cached position information stored onthe first wireless terminal or if the cached location information isstale requesting the first wireless terminal to provide a freshlocation.

Referring to the invention in general, the generated alert can take anysuitable form. For example, the alert can be an advisory message, whichis communicated to at least one predetermined device. The at least onepredetermined device could be the first wireless terminal and/or asecond wireless terminal, wherein the first wireless terminal alsoacting as the predetermined device could be a cell phone. Thepredetermined device can be any suitable device, such as a PersonalDigital Assistant (PDA) and/or a laptop capable of communicating with awireless network and/or receiving emails, and a message server. Anexample of a message server is a server accessible via theworld-wide-web and which stores messages for downloading by, forexample, a wireless capable laptop with authorization to access themessage server. The message server could be an email server programmedto store and/or forward emails to subscribers. Other examples of messageservers include the Hotmail™ email system and the webmail serviceprovided by Google called Gmail™.

Alternatively, the generated alert can be routed to the user's emailaddress recorded during a previous registration of the identity.Alternatively, the alert is a reply message, such as a non-authorizationmessage, for blocking an associated electronic transaction at the firstlocation, and more particularly for blocking a transaction at the firstlocation associated with the identity. It should be understood that theidentity may not be limited to one identity, but could encompass one ormore identities such as a user's credit card number together with theuser's email address, social security number, phone number, residentialaddress or phone number. Thus, a card reader may read a user's creditcard and the user asked to enter or otherwise provide their emailaddress or phone number. Some retail outlets routinely ask customers fortheir home phone number and/or address.

In one aspect of the invention, the use of an identity is associatedwith a first time stamp. The first time stamp corresponds to the time ofthe associated electronic transaction (or attempted electronictransaction) performed at a first location, and wherein the step ofreading a cached location is associated with a second time stamp. Thespeed can be calculated based on the distance between the first andsecond locations and the time difference between the first and secondtime stamps such that the first and second locations are judged not tomatch in geographical proximity if the speed is above a predeterminedvalue. Thus, if the speed to travel between the first and secondlocations is calculated to be about 1000 mph, and the predeterminedvalue is set at 40 mph, an alert would be generated.

In another aspect of the first embodiment, if the first and secondlocations do not match in geographical proximity, then a confidencescore is calculated to determine if the position mismatch with respectto the first and second locations is acceptable or unacceptable, and thealert is only generated if the confidence score is below a predeterminedthreshold. In addition to the time and distance difference, the systemcan also use additional factors to derive the confidence score. Thesefactors can be weather conditions, time of day, day of year, urbanmakeup (e.g. a suburb area versus a downtown area), etc.

In still another aspect of the first embodiment, the step of determiningthe second location further comprises the step of detecting a Wi-Fi™Unique ID associated with the position of the first wireless terminal,and converting the Wi-Fi™ unique ID into a post-transaction location forthe first wireless terminal, the post-transaction location being thesecond location, wherein the step of detecting a Wi-Fi™ Unique ID isonly performed if cached position information is not stored on the firstwireless terminal. For example, if the wireless terminal lacks cachedposition information and the first wireless terminal is able to detect aWi-Fi™ unique ID, then the Wi-Fi™ unique ID is used to determine theposition of the first wireless terminal. This might entail accessing adatabase that matches a Wi-Fi™'s unique ID (i.e., identity such as, butnot limited to, an Internet media-access-control (MAC) address) withknown positions corresponding to each Wi-Fi™ unique ID. This databasemight be stored, for example, on a hard drive or memory chip fitted tothe first wireless terminal 160.

In still another aspect of the first embodiment, the step of determiningthe second location further comprises the step of detecting a WiMAXUnique ID associated with the position of the first terminal, andconverting the WiMAX Unique ID into a post-transaction location for thefirst wireless terminal, the post-transaction location being the secondlocation, wherein the step of detecting a WiMAX Unique ID is onlyperformed if cached position information is not stored on the firstwireless terminal. Alternatively, the step of detecting a WiMAX UniqueID is only performed if the cached position information is stale,wherein the cached position information is regarded as stale if theinformation has not been updated for a predetermined time period. Thoseof skill in the art, enlightened by this disclosure, will recognize thatvarious unique IDs may be associated with the position of the firstterminal, including, in addition to GPS, Wi-Fi™, and WiMAX, IDs derivedfrom cell phone signal triangulation or from obtaining a cell tower ID(or the equivalent) from the wireless system. Those of skill in the art,enlightened by this disclosure, will also appreciate that the presenttechnique of geo-location using unique IDs may be used in a variety ofrelated applications, such as providing geographically oriented searchresults from a search engine. For example, a user searching for a pizzastore may be directed to one nearest him, rather than being left on hisown to determine his location and pick the store off a map.

In still another aspect of the first embodiment, the step of determiningthe second location further comprises the step of obtaining apost-transaction position for the first wireless terminal as soon as thefirst wireless terminal is able to receive GPS signals to calculate itspost-transaction position, the post-transaction position being thesecond location, wherein the step of obtaining a post-transactionposition is only performed if cached position information is not storedon the first wireless terminal.

In still another aspect of the first embodiment, the step of determiningthe second location further comprises the step of obtaining apost-transaction position for the first wireless terminal as soon as thefirst wireless terminal is able to receive GPS signals to calculate itspost-transaction position, the post-transaction position being thesecond location, wherein the step of obtaining a post-transactionposition is only performed if the cached position information is stale,wherein the cached position information is regarded as stale if theinformation has not been updated for a predetermined time period.

In a second embodiment of the present invention, a method is providedfor facilitating the detection of misuse of an identity during anelectronic transaction. The second embodiment comprises the steps of:receiving a notification to authenticate the use of an identity at afirst location, wherein the identity is associated with a first wirelessterminal; determining an approximate location of the first wirelessterminal based on cached position information stored on a GPS positiondatabase, wherein the GPS position database is operatively connected toa wireless provider 180 and/or a financial institution's computers 140,the approximate location of the first wireless terminal being a secondlocation; determining whether the first and second locations match ingeographical proximity; and generating an alert if the first and secondlocations do not match in geographical proximity.

In a third embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided forfacilitating the detection of misuse of an identity during an electronictransaction, comprising the steps of: receiving a notification toauthenticate the use of an identity at a first location, wherein theidentity is associated with a first wireless terminal; reading a cachedlocation of the first wireless terminal based on cached positioninformation stored on the first wireless terminal, the location of thefirst wireless terminal being a second location; determining whether thefirst and second locations match in geographical proximity; determininga post-transaction location of the first wireless terminal if the firstand second locations do not match in geographical proximity, thepost-transaction location of the first wireless terminal being a thirdlocation; and generating an alert if: (1) the first and second locationsdo not match in geographical proximity and (2) the first and thirdlocations do not match in geographical proximity.

Referring to the invention in general and with reference to the thirdembodiment, the post-transaction location can be obtained, for example,by processing GPS signals received by the first wireless terminal 160within a reasonable time after the transaction (referred to hereinafteras “post-transaction GPS signals”). Post-transaction location can alsobe obtained, for example, using Wi-Fi™ unique ID (if available) or WiMAXunique ID. Alternatively, the post-transaction location can be obtainedby using an inertial navigation module (INM) 400 (discussed infra) toconvert the most recent cached location into a post-transaction locationfor the first wireless terminal, wherein updating the most recent cachedposition of the INM module is integrated into the design of the firstwireless terminal (see, e.g., FIG. 3). Thus, the post-transactionlocation can be determined based on a method selected from the groupconsisting of: processing post-transaction GPS signals, Wi-Fi™ uniqueID, and WiMAX unique ID, and any combination thereof.

In a fourth embodiment of the present invention, a method is providedfor facilitating the detection of misuse of an identity during anelectronic transaction, comprising the steps of: receiving anotification to authenticate the use of an identity at a first location,wherein the identity is associated with a first wireless terminal;reading a cached location of the first wireless terminal based on cachedposition information stored on the first wireless terminal, the locationof the first wireless location being a second location; determiningwhether the first and second locations match in geographical proximity;determining the post-transaction location of the first wireless terminalif the first and second locations do not match in geographicalproximity, the post-transaction location of the first wireless terminalbeing a third location; determining a post-transaction position of thefirst wireless terminal if (1) the first and second positions do notmatch in geographical proximity and (2) it is not possible to determinethe post-transaction location, wherein the post-transaction position istreated as the third location; and generating an alert if: (1) the firstand second locations do not match in geographical proximity and (2) thefirst and third locations do not match in geographical proximity.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing exemplary hardware elementsthat can enable the practice of the various embodiments of the presentinvention. An electronic transaction terminal is shown at 120. Theelectronic transaction terminal 120 can be, for example, a credit and/ordebit card terminal located at a first location such as a point of salelocation inside a retail store, i.e., at a known first location.Alternatively, the terminal 120 could be a credit/debit card terminallinked to a cash register (not shown) or the terminal 120 could be aregular ATM (automatic teller machine) for dispensing cash to registeredholders of cash cards. In other words, the terminal 120 can take variousforms without detracting from the spirit of the present invention. Ifthe first and second locations do not match in geographical proximity,the alert can be a reply message for blocking an associated electronictransaction at the first location.

The terminal 120 is operatively coupled to a financial institution'scomputers 140 such as a credit card company's computers or a bank'scomputers if, for example, terminal 120 is an ATM and used for cashwithdrawals). The financial institution's computers 140 are thosecomputers authorized to process the user's financial transactions. Thefinancial institution's computers 140 are in turn able to communicatewith a first wireless terminal 160 via a wireless provider 180 and,based on signal strength, the nearest base station 170 to the firstwireless terminal 160. Examples of credit card companies include Visa™,Discover™, American Express™, MasterCard™, and Eurocard™. Examples ofwireless providers include Sprint™, Verizon™ and T-Mobile™.

An optional position database (PDB) 300 can be operatively coupled tothe wireless provider 180. Alternatively, PDB 300 can be operativelycoupled to the financial institution's computer 140. The PDB 300 can beoperatively coupled to more than one element such as wireless provider180 and financial institution's computers 140. The PDB 300 can bedirectly or indirectly linked to wireless provider 180 and/or financialinstitution's computers 140. The terms “coupled” or “operativelycoupled” are intended to cover both direct and indirect links.Pre-transaction and/or post-transaction positions with respect to thefirst wireless terminal 160 can be stored on the PDB 300. The PDB 300can store positions derived from any known position determinationtechnique such as, but not limited to, GPS position data derived from aGPS receiver 200 located on the first wireless terminal 160 (see, e.g.,FIG. 2).

The optional PDB 300 can, for example, archive or cache a positionhistory of the first wireless terminal 160. Thus, if the first wirelessterminal 160 is unable to receive GPS signals or is switched off, theoptional position database 300 can be accessed to provide the latestavailable position of the first wireless terminal 160, i.e., in thisscenario, the first wireless terminal 160 uploads its position atpredetermined intervals to the wireless vendor 180 and thence to theposition database 300.

Alternatively, positions based on previously received GPS signals can bestored in a memory 320 integrated with the first wireless terminal 180.The memory 320 can be any suitable memory such as, but not limited to: aRAM chip, a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a CD or DVD disc and reader,or any known memory or anticipated memory option, alone or incombination.

In FIG. 1, the wireless terminal 160 is a cell phone fitted with a GPSreceiver 200. The first wireless terminal can also include memory forstoring cached positions, i.e., a history of the positions of the firstwireless terminal, so that if the wireless terminal is required tosupply its post-transaction position but is unable to do so, perhapsbecause the first wireless terminal is unable to receive GPS signals,then the most recent cached position can be used. The first wirelessterminal 160 can be a GPS enabled cell phone as shown, or any wirelessterminal capable of communication with a wireless provider such as aBlackberry™ in combination with a GPS receiver.

Still referring to FIG. 1, terminal 120 includes a card reader 240 forreading a credit card 260. An identity in the form of a credit cardnumber and details are stored on a magnetic strip 280 and are read bythe card reader 240. It should be understood that the magnetic strip 280could be replaced with any known or future technology, e.g., a smartchip embedded in a credit or debit card, which can be read by, forexample, waving the card near a card reader enabled to so read creditand/or debit cards fitted with smart chips, or identity informationdisplayed on the screen of a smart phone that may be read by a suitableoptical scanner.

At any point after the identity has been read by terminal 120, anotification can be generated by the electronic terminal 120 or otherdevice operatively coupled to the terminal 120, and/or the credit cardcompany's or bank's computers 140. One or more notifications can begenerated by, for example, the electronic transaction terminal 120 andthe credit card company's or bank's computers 140, alone or incombination. The notification acts as a trigger wherein thepost-transaction or cached position of the first wireless terminal 160(treated as the second position) is determined and compared to theposition of the electronic transaction terminal 120 (regarded as thefirst position). More specifically, a check is made to determine if thefirst and second positions match in geographical proximity. The task ofdetermining if the first and second positions match in geographicalproximity can be done by one or more elements such as, but not limitedto, the first wireless terminal 160, the wireless provider 180 and thecomputers 140, the electronic transaction terminal 120 (or an optionalprocessor 130 operatively coupled to the terminal 120), alone or incombination. If the computers 140, first wireless terminal 160, wirelessprovider 180, alone or in combination, is/are tasked to determine if thefirst and second positions match in geographical proximity, then thenotification should include data representative of the first position ofthe electronic transaction terminal 120.

While wireless terminals (e.g., wireless mobile terminals such as cellphones) having a GPS receiver combined with a communication systemcapable of communicating with a base station are known (e.g., U.S. Pat.No. 5,945,944, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety,describes such a device), the prior art does not teach a method andsystem for monitoring electronic purchases and cash-withdrawals of thepresent invention.

In another embodiment, a GPS receiver 200 operatively coupled to aminiature inertial navigation module (INM) 400. FIG. 2 shows a schematicblock diagram of an exemplary first wireless terminal 160 fitted with aGPS receiver 200 operatively coupled to an INM 400. The GPS receiver andINM combination can be housed inside the housing 165 of the firstwireless terminal. Suppliers of miniature inertial navigation hardwareinclude Analog Devices Inc. and Comarco, Inc. (and more particularly itssubsidiary Comarco Wireless Technologies (CWT) of Irvine, Calif. 92618,USA). CWT miniature inertial modules are capable of precision positionmeasurements in buildings and urban canyons and, when combined with aGPS receiver 200, can determine the position of a first wirelessterminal 160 with a high degree of accuracy and reliability.

INM technology in the form of silicon is available, for example, fromAnalog Devices Inc. (ADI). The ADI ADXL103 (a 5 mm×5 mm×2 mm LCCpackage), which is a high accuracy, high stability, low cost, low power,complete single axis accelerometer with a signal conditioned voltageoutput, all on a single monolithic IC. The ADXL213 supplied by ADI is aprecision, low power, complete dual axis accelerometer with signalconditioned, duty cycle modulated outputs, on a single monolithicintegrated chip (IC) measuring 5 mm×5 mm×2 mm. Also, ADI's ADXL311 is alow cost, low power, complete dual axis accelerometer with signalconditioned voltage outputs, all on a single monolithic IC of dimensionsof just 5 mm×5 mm×2 mm. In addition, ADI's ADXRS401 is a low-costcomplete ultra small and light (<0.15 cc, <0.5 gram) angularrate-sensing gyroscope capable of measuring up to 75 degrees per secondwith all of the required electronics on a single chip.

Working Example

The following is a non-limiting working example of a fifth embodiment ofthe present invention. A credit card customer agrees to be locatable viahis or her mobile phone provider and registers a credit card or debitcard (hereinafter “credit card”) in such a manner that the user's creditcard is associated with at least one mobile terminal. The process ofregistering a credit card in a Location-Based Fraud Protection (“LBFP”)System involves a financial institution which partners with one or moremobile phone or wireless providers that provide mobile geographicallocation(s). A mobile phone provider agrees, usually for a fee, torelease the location of a subscriber who, in order to comply withprivacy laws, authorizes this action. The financial institution, usingthe LBFP system, can register its clients using the following method (asshown in FIG. 3): sending a letter or calling the client, and requestingthe client to call a toll-free number from his cell phone. Using thecaller's ID, the LBFP system will require at least two identifyingnumbers. These identifying numbers can be the last 4 digits of thecredit card and the home address zip code. Once the customer entersthese numbers, the LBFP system will communicate these details to theclient's financial institution for verification.

For added security, the LBFP system can also challenge the client bysending a 4-digit SMS random number to the cell phone and asking theclient to enter it using his phone keypad. If verified, the LBFP systemwill be able to associate the correct credit card with the customer'scell phone number. The LBFP system will then check to see if theclient's cell phone carrier participates in this program. If it does,the LBFP will successfully add the client to its database (as describedin the next paragraph) for credit card transaction monitoring. The LBFPsystem can then provide an optional unique PIN to the client so that hecan access the LBFP web site to further custom the alerting logic. Inturn, this customization can further increase the accuracy of the LBFPsystem. For example, the client can add known locations to be used whenan online transaction takes place. Known locations can be a workaddress, relative/friend's address, etc. Using these addresses willincrease the LBFP accuracy when a customer uses a credit card online bycomparing known locations with client's cell phone location at theapproximate time of the online transaction.

The financial institution stores in a database the subscriber customer(hereinafter “subscriber”) details. For example, the subscriber's firstand last name (stored as a type UTF-8 characters), Mobilecarrier/Wireless provider code (e.g., Sprint-1, Nextel-2) stored as typeInteger number, 10-digit Mobile phone number (3-digit area code and7-digit phone number, stored as type Integer number), and ID number thatis associated with the financial institution's subscriber's ID number(stored as type Integer number), such cross-reference number acting as asecurity measure whereby no personal information (SSN, credit cardnumber) is stored in such database.

After registration, each time a subscriber uses the credit card, at thetime of a purchase transaction or near to that time, the financialinstitution will contact the LBFP System servers via a secure encryptionlink (e.g., SSL/SSH/VPN. With no personal information of the subscriberbeing transmitted, the financial institution provides the date oftransaction, time of transaction, address of the business where thetransaction took place, type of transaction (online or physical) and thesubscriber's ID number. The LBFP servers will then initiate a requestvia secure TCP/IP link (e.g., SSL/SSH/VPN) to the subscriber's mobilephone provider requesting the subscriber's post-transaction location,heading and/or speed (see FIG. 4). The actual physical location of theLBFP System does not matter. The LBFP System can be located on thefinancial institution's premises or at a distance therefrom. If at adistance from the LBFP System, the financial institution can be linkedto it via a secure network link (e.g. VPN/SSh/SSL).

When the client uses his or her credit card, the LBFP System receivesthe purchase information from the financial institution, itcross-references the identifying item from the financial institutionwith the subscriber's unique carrier ID (e.g., cell phone number).

After the LBFP System finds the subscriber's unique carrier ID (orrelated information), it will then request the subscriber's last knownlocation from the subscriber's carrier. Each carrier has specific meansfor interfacing with and providing this information. It is sometimescalled API, which are known programming methods to execute specificfunctions. As a practical matter, the LBFP System, or the financialinstitution, will create a relationship and interface with the carrierahead of time in order to obtain this information electronically. TheLBFP System can interface with multiple carriers and multiple financialinstitutions.

There are at least four possible outcomes from the application of theabove procedure, namely, (1) unable to locate the cell phone (cell phoneout or range, turned off, or other reason that the cell phone cannot belocated), (2) able to locate the cell phone—the cell phone is not athome, work or other known location, (3) able to locate the cellphone—the cell phone is at home, work or other known location, the“known location” being the location, in addition to client's homeaddress, where the client usually resides (i.e., work, familyaddresses), these locations are optional and normally would be enteredby the client at registration (see registration process above for moredetails), (4) able to locate phone with a timestamp prior to thepurchase or transaction time.

With respect to each of the at least four possible outcomes, a decision(score) table is created using at least the parameters: ΔD=distancebetween Location of Mobile phone and Location of Purchase Point, andΔT=difference between Time located phone and Time of transaction, amongpotential parameters. The LBFP system may use additional factors toarrive at a final score/Fraud Confidence Level (“FCL”). These factorsinclude a client's heading, speed, urban type/density, time of day, dayof week, weather conditions, etc. As to ΔD, the time can range from 0 to30 kilometers or more. As to ΔT, the time can range from 0 to 30 minutesor more. Depending upon the sensitivity desired for questioning whethera credit card purchase is valid, Fraud Confidence Level (“FCL”) valuesare assigned within the LBFP System for each credit card transaction.When an FCL is calculated by the LBFP System to be above a thresholdvalue, a flag will be raised as to a valid transaction. Alternatively,when an FCL is calculated by the LBFP System to be below a thresholdvalue, a flag is raised as to a potentially fraudulent credit card use.

For example, in the case of outcome (1), if the wireless provider isunable to locate the cell phone (no coverage, turned off, etc.), theLBFP System will switch into “search mode” as follows: (a) the systemwill keep attempting to locate the cell phone every 10 minutes for thenext 30 minutes, or (b) if the location is determined within 30 minutesafter the purchase transaction took place, the LBFP system willcalculate the distance between the purchase location and the mobilephone location using an exemplar Table 1 to determine an FCL.

TABLE 1 Scoring Example If the location of cell phone is within adistance (Km) of the purchase point and The LBFP System tags the within20 minutes of the transaction transaction with an FCL of ½ 3 1 4 5 5 106 15 7 20 8 25 9 >30 10

In the case of outcome (2), if the LBFP System was able to locate thecell phone, though the cell phone is not at home, namely, the locationof the cell phone was found within 10 minutes after the purchasetransaction took place and the purchase type is physical (notonline/Internet), the LBFP System will calculate the distance betweenthe purchase location or sale point and the mobile phone location usingan exemplar Table 2 to determine an FCL.

TABLE 2 Scoring Example If the location of cell phone is within adistance (Km) of the purchase point and The LBFP System tags the within10 minutes of the transaction transaction with an FCL of ½ 3 1 4 5 5 108 >10 10

In the case of outcome (3), the LBFP System will calculate the distancedifference between the customer's known home, work or other knownaddress and the location of the cell phone. If the LBFP System was ableto locate the cell phone with the cell phone being at the above knownlocations, within 10 minutes after the purchase transaction took placeAND the purchase type is online/Internet, the LBFP System will calculatethe distance between the above known locations and the mobile phonelocation using an example Table 3 to determine an FCL.

TABLE 3 Scoring Example If the location of cell phone is within adistance (Km) of the purchase point and The LBFP System tags the within10 minutes of the transaction transaction with an FCL of ½ 4 1 5 5 6 108 >10 19

In the case of outcome (4), a customer purchased goods or service from aphysical location (e.g., store) and the LBFP System is unable to locatethe cell phone. There may be situations whereby the wireless providerwas able to acquire the customer's location prior to the purchase andstore it in a temporary database. If the timestamp is close to thepurchase time and the LBFP system is unable to get a newer location fix,then, in that case, the LBFP system may use the cached locationinformation and ΔT to calculate the FCL using a scoring table similar toTable 1. The cached location information can be either the locationinformation stored on the location server or on the MT.

In addition to the above data, the LBFP system may use additionalfactors in order to calculate the LFC/fraud score. These factors may be:time of day, day of the week, urban make (a suburb vs. downtown),weather conditions and traffic condition, among others. This is true forall possible scenarios.

With respect to an online purchase, such as a purchase from the onlinecompany Amazon.com™, the LBFP System may either know in advance, or atthe time of the purchase, the frequent or usual address of thepurchaser, for instance, home, work or other known location. Theconfiguration and customization can be defined both globally as asystem-wide rule and on per individual basis when the subscriberregistered for this service. Customization can include scoring/LFCthreshold, known locations, and client notification methods (e.g., SMS,email).

In the case of wireless network, GPS enabled cellular phones require,for the most part, a clear line of site with the sky in order to acquireGPS location. Since that does not always happen (in case the cellularphone is in the subway or other obstructed location), the location ofthe cellular phone sometimes does not match the exact location of thebusiness. That is the reason the LBFP System compares both locationswithin a radius of X miles from such locations. (The number of X mileswill be determined once an LBFP System in a particular environment hasbeen through beta testing and becomes operational.). The X miles factoris also expected to vary in various geographical locations, such asrural locations versus large cities. Note also that there are cellularphones that can be located with means other than GPS. An example is thetriangulation of the cellular phone's signals with surrounding celltowers. For another example, the geographic location of a cell phonetower being used by a cell phone may be acquired by associating the cellphone tower ID, which is software accessible, with its geographiclocation. To the LBFP System, the manner by which the carrier obtainsthe mobile phone's location does not matter. The LBFP System will takeinto account parameters provided by the carrier such as heading, speed,acquisition-time and location error (accuracy).

Transaction Geographical Data (“TGD”) is the transaction geographicalinformation provided to a system for anti-fraud analysis. Non-limitingexamples of such information include mobile voice device informationsuch as mobile voice device number, mobile voice device MAC address,mobile voice device SSID, mobile voice device computer signature(defined as “PC Signature” in International Patent ApplicationWO/2008/147353), mobile voice device Wi-Fi™ information, and mobilevoice device IP address. Such TGD can also include other informationwhich is not installed on such mobile voice device, such as the routerin path to such mobile voice device, the router's IP address, HTML5location information, the router's MAC address, and the router's Wi-Fi™information. Other information can be billing and shipping address, POS(Point Of Sale) location, or other unique store information. Suchgeographical information is gathered during the transaction and can besaved in association with the mobile voice device information locally onthe mobile voice device, or alternatively saved in a database by thevendor. Saving the geographical information in association with the TGDwill improve security, as a potential fraudster cannot know whichinformation is saved in association with the geographical information.This will make it harder for a potential fraudster to copy theinformation and impersonate a legitimate consumer making a legitimatepurchase.

The practitioner may establish a maximum acceptable “safe distance”between the Internet user's mobile phone and Geo IP. Geo IP is thegeographic location of the Internet Protocol. Such data is provided byone or more Geo IP information providers such as Maxmind™ and Quova™.Such Geo IP data provided by such providers is not as accurate as themobile voice device location information, and in most cases it isaccurate to the city level only, not the zip code or neighborhood.Therefore, using Geo IP from at least two separate Geo IP providers andautomatically selecting the closest Geo IP to the mobile phone will bepreferable. Once the closest Geo IP is selected, the authenticationservice can proceed on various paths:

-   -   1. Check the distance between TGD and Geo IP against one or more        predetermined distances.    -   2. Check if the distance between TGD and Geo IP is within “Phone        Accuracy” where such “Phone Accuracy” is provided by the        carrier; and    -   3. Check if the distance between TGD and Geo IP is within “Phone        Accuracy” and one or more predetermined distances. Examples of        predetermined distances are the “Inner Radius” and “Outer        Radius” as described further below.

For option number 1, the practitioner may establish a maximum acceptablesafe distance between the mobile phone and geographic coordinatesprovided by the Internet user. The Internet user's mobile voice devicecan provide coordinates from sources such as HTML5, Geo IP or addressconverted to coordinates, or provide a list of MAC addresses, Wi-Fi™SSID or other data of other wireless devices located near the Internetuser's mobile voice device, such as TGD information.

Similarly, the practitioner may establish maximum acceptable safedistances between the Internet user's cell phone and the billing addressand/or shipping address associated with the transaction in question. Aproblem with this approach is the potential for high false positive andinaccurate results, since the predetermined number is a set number, nota dynamic number. Transactions made in rural environments will havedifferent accuracy than transactions made in major city areas. Inaddition, environmental factors that are not due to the current mobilevoice device location may also have a major effect on the phoneaccuracy. For example, locating a mobile voice device at 1:00 PM mightprovide accurate results, while locating the same mobile voice device atthe same location at a different time might provide less accurateresults, perhaps 2 miles away from the location determined at 1:00 PM.This may be due to the number of concurrent users using the samecarrier's resources at the same time at the same location. Therefore,relying on a single predetermined distance may cause many falsepositives.

For option number 2, “phone accuracy” is a measure of the likely radiusof the phone location as provided by the carrier. The accuracy value isa measure of accuracy as well as a statement of probability, sometimesboth “estimated error” and “confidence” values are provided. Solutionsin the carrier space have generally settled on a “one sigma” (67.7%)confidence factor, meaning that a location reported as “within 0.5 mile”of the actual location has a confidence level of 67.7% (i.e., onesigma). That means there remains a smaller probability that the devicecould be more than 0.5 mile away from the displayed location. The phoneaccuracy is affected by the method used to locate the phone; forexample, GPS, Antenna Triangulation, and Cell ID each have strengths andweaknesses in terms of precision and accuracy. Phone accuracy mayaccordingly depend on the number of antennas the phone connects with,and/or the exposure of the phone to satellites at the time of thelocation inquiry.

In cases where the phone is located using GPS or more than threeantennas, the phone accuracy will be high, and reported, for example,within a 0.1 mile radius. This means there is a confidence level of onesigma (67.7%) that the phone is within a radius of 0.1 mile of itsreported location. In areas with many antennas in close proximity to thephone, such as in a city, the phone accuracy can be as low as 0.1 milebecause the phone will often be triangulated by three or more antennasat the same time. In rural areas the phone may be located using oneantenna, and/or the user may be far from that antenna, with poorreception, resulting in phone accuracy as low as 2.5 miles. i.e., with aconfidence level of one Sigma, the phone is within a radius of 2.5 milesof its reported location. The phone accuracy is dynamic informationprovided by the carrier for every transaction. The phone accuracy or“location error” by some of the carriers. such information is veryvaluable when identifying potentially fraudulent transactions using themobile voice device location information and phone accuracy may reducefalse positive by assessing more accurately where the phone may be atthe time of the transaction.

Using the phone accuracy together with the transaction information willincrease the confidence level of the practitioner. For example, if thephone accuracy is 0.1 mile and the distance between the mobile voicedevice and the TGD is 2 miles then this may be a fraudulent transaction,whereas if the phone accuracy is 2.5 miles and the distance between themobile phone location and the TGD is 2 miles then this may be a safetransaction.

Option 3 may use the phone accuracy as in option number 2, incombination with at least two radiuses. For example, the practitionermay set acceptable safe distances between the mobile phone and TGD forfive geographical parameters: IP Address, Coordinates, Billing address,Shipping address and Historic IP. Each parameter may have two saferadiuses: an “inner radius” and an “outer radius”. The inner radius isthe first preferred safe distance between the mobile phone and one ofthe parameters. The outer radius is the largest radius within which themobile voice device can be located and the transaction be categorized assafe. The reason for using two radiuses is the inaccuracy of mobilevoice device location methods, and the number of scenarios thisanti-fraud system will protect against.

For example, having a mobile voice device within the outer radius canindicate a safe transaction if the mobile voice device is 20 miles awayfrom the IP address, when the distance between the mobile phone and thehome address is more than 1,000 Miles. This permits the system to adaptto situations where the Internet user is traveling, making theimprecision of the geographical location of the mobile device lessrelevant. Thus, using a combination of the phone accuracy with at leasttwo radiuses will decrease the incidence of false positives and increasesystem efficiency. For example, if the mobile phone accuracy is 2 mileswhile the inner radius is 1 mile and the distance between the mobilephone and one of the TGD parameters is 1.9 miles, that transaction iswithin the phone accuracy and therefore could be flagged as a safetransaction.

The “Historic IP” is a Geo IP database built using historic transactioninformation associated with the Internet user's mobile voice device andgeographic transaction data such as a home address, billing address,shipping address, and HTML5. The Internet user's IP address, billingaddress and mobile voice device geographical information, takentogether, enable the determination of the likely geographical locationof the IP address. For example, if the Internet user is making a safetransaction from his residence, and the mobile phone is located near theresidence (within, for example, 1 mile), then it is possible to use thegeographical location of the mobile voice device and the residentialaddress to determine the location of the IP address of the Internetuser. If the Internet user makes a transaction while located 1,000 milesaway from the billing address, and the distance between the user'smobile voice device and the IP address being used is within s safedistance (e.g., 20 miles), then it is possible to assign the location ofthe mobile voice device to the IP address.

In alternative embodiments, it is possible to use only one of the mobilevoice device or billing address locations, and assign that location tothe IP address; in other embodiments it is possible to use a combinationof both locations, in a simple or weighted average, to indicate thelocation of the IP address.

In another embodiment, the practitioner may detect that more than oneInternet user are using the same Internet IP address or the same router,but using two different mobile phones, and employ a geographical averageof the locations of the two mobile voice devices, and then assign thegeographical average to the location of the router IP address.

In one embodiment, safe distances may be modified to account for ruralsettings. For example, if the acceptable safe distance between themobile phone and the IP is 5 miles, an additional fraction (e.g., 20percent) might be added when the device and/or IP are in a rural area,so that the safe distance between one of the IP addresses and the mobilephone becomes 6 miles.

As mentioned above, the accuracy value is both a measure of accuracy aswell as a statement of probability, and sometimes both “estimated error”and “confidence” values are provided. If the location is reported withina given radius, with a confidence of 67.7%, there is a probability thatthe device could be more than the stated radius away from the locationreported. Therefore, in certain embodiments, the practitioner may add tothe phone accuracy an additional fraction (e.g., 35%) in order to catchtransactions where the phone location is more than one sigma from thereported location, for example where the reported phone accuracy is 1.2miles but the actual distance of the device from the reported phonelocation is 1.5 miles. Thus, while the practitioner may set theacceptable safe distance between the mobile phone and the IP location at5 miles, if the phone accuracy is 1 mile it may be desirable to add,e.g., 1.35 miles to the acceptable inner radius.

A “receiver” as used in the current application shall mean any devicewith an ability to receive wireless information from mobile voicedevice, credit card tap or any other device that can send informationvia wireless communication to such receiver. The receiver may store suchinformation locally or on a remote database. It is possible to capturethe wireless information of other devices by using sniffer, such sniffercan provide wireless information such as device information, Mac addressand SSID. By using sniffer in monitor mode the SSID filter is disabledand all packets of all SSID's from the currently selected channel arecaptured. When capturing traffic in monitor mode, one can capture on asingle, fixed channel, therefore, using multiple wireless adapters whileeach adapter capture a different channel, or capture while hoppingthrough multiple channels (channel hopping). Examples of a receiverinclude a router, wireless credit card readers, wireless credit cardtap, mobile voice device, laptop computer, POS terminal with wirelesscapability, ATM terminal with wireless capability, merchant wirelessterminal, computer with wireless capability, a server with wirelesscapability or any other device modified or designed to receive wirelessinformation. Such receivers can be located in any place such as a mall,store, shopping center, POS, ATM, Banks, house, apartment, public area,private area, office, buildings, etc.

“Tap & pay” transactions can be secured by any of the means describedabove, but because of the relative speed of such transactions,accelerated methods are desirable. Such accelerated means are providedby the embodiments described below.

As used herein, “Short Distance Wireless Information” (“SDWI”) shallmean any mobile voice device information that is broadcast wirelessly toa short distance for transfer of information from a mobile voice deviceto a second wireless device such as a receiver, where such receiver andsuch second wireless device are not operated by the carrier, whethersuch transfer of such information initiated automatically or triggeredby the person who owns such mobile voice device. Such information istypically transferred via short-range wireless technology such asBluetooth™, Wi-Fi™ or RFID, and contains information associated withthat mobile voice device or with the person who owns and/or is holdingsuch mobile voice device. Examples of such SDWI include, but are notlimited to, Wi-Fi™ MAC address, Bluetooth™ MAC address, IMEI, SerialNumber, ICCID, and other information associated uniquely, ornon-uniquely, with that mobile voice device. Additional examples includeencoded personal identifying information, such as a cardholder's name,address, passport information, Social Security number, credit cardnumber, phone number, and pertinent account or employee information.Non-unique information broadcast from such mobile voice device mayinclude the device's carrier, brand and model, and the user's gender,nickname, profession, and personal preferences such as hobbies, sports,favorite foods, product preferences, and the like.

Electronic tap & pay transactions can be secured by using SDWI that isbroadcast (either automatically or triggered) from the mobile voicedevice of a client while the owner of the credit card information andthe mobile voice device are the same. Automatically broadcast means thatthe information is constantly broadcast, and triggered broadcast meansthat the information is broadcast only upon a certain action, such aspressing a button or tapping an RFID-equipped device near an RFIDreceiver. For example, if a client using a tap & pay credit card toconduct a transaction is also in possession of a mobile phone such as aniPhone™, the iPhone™ may be automatically broadcasting SDWI. Themerchant can detect the SDWI using the same device that received thecredit card tap information, or can use one wireless receiver to receivethe electronic tap information and a second wireless receiver to get theSDWI. The merchant may associate such secondary wireless informationwith the electronic tap information that the merchant received from thesame client.

Such security is not limited to point of sale only, and it can be usedto secure Internet transactions as well, wherever the SDWI can becollected by receivers within range of the short-distance transmissions(such as nearby computers and routers.)

For Internet transactions it is possible to identify SDWI originatingfrom a different device than the mobile voice device. For example,identifying the SDWI from the same device over the Internet can be doneby software loaded on such mobile voice device, which detects andreports the MAC address of the mobile voice device. Such software canalso detect SDWI broadcast by other devices, such as the MAC address ofa printer, a different mobile voice device, a laptop computer, or a TVor other home appliance that broadcasts such SDWI to the mobile voicedevice. Alternatively, or in addition, a computer with a wirelessconnection can be used capture the mobile voice device SDWI of anInternet user.

For example, software can be installed on a neighbor's device, suchsoftware having the capability to connect to a wireless receiver such asthe device's Wi-Fi™ network adapter or alternatively to a wirelessrouter. Using the neighbor's Wi-Fi™ adapter or router such software willthen be able to use such neighbor's receiver to capture a nearbyInternet user's mobile voice device SDWI, and transfer such SDWIdirectly (or via an intermediary) to the online vendor in order toauthenticate the Internet user's geographical location. Such SDWI can becaptured at or near the time the Internet user is making the transactionwith the online vendor. Alternatively, a designated receiver can capturesuch SDWI and transfer such information to the vendor. One non-limitingexample can be a wireless router located near such Internet user andtransferring the SDWI to such online vendor, or to an intermediary thatcan then transfer location information to such online vendor. Suchsoftware or designated hardware may be provided by the vendor, as partof a registration process engaged in by the neighbor with the vendor, orit may be provided by an intermediary (e.g. a bank or credit cardcompany) or an internet data aggregator. Software for SDWI capture mayoptionally be built into a browser or a browser add-on. It may also bebuilt into the operating system of the computer, where its functions canbe called on by other applications, and/or it may be built into arouter's firmware.

The environment of the average consumer today, whether at home, at work,or in a commercial setting, is filled with a wide variety of digitalradio-frequency transmissions, many of which can be detected andinterpreted by wireless computing and communications devices. All ofthis environmental data can be utilized by the methods of the presentinvention as SDWI. By collecting together multiple pieces of such SDWI,it is possible to create a “wireless fingerprint” or “wirelesssignature” for a given physical location or an Internet useridentification, which can help distinguish secure transactions (inwhich, for example, the mobile voice device is near the location of suchwireless signature) from transactions that require additionalidentification (in which the mobile voice device is not near suchwireless signature.) Wireless signatures can be made more accurate byincorporating the signal strengths of multiple pieces of broadcastinformation, such as router MAC addresses, SSIDs, names, etc. Using suchSDWI while the user is connected via the Internet, it is possible toknow if the user is connected from a location having a known wirelesssignature. Such wireless signature location can be created byidentifying at least one, and preferably a plurality, of SDWI fromdevices external to the device being used by the user to access theInternet.

For example, if an Internet user is connected to the Internet from home,it is possible to detect the printer's MAC address and the MAC addressof the user's TV, or the SSID and/or MAC address of a neighbor's SDWIsuch as a router, and the signal strength of each one in addition to theInternet user's mobile voice device. The anti-fraud assessment at a POSusing a wireless signature can be done by verifying that the SDWIinformation of a POS receiver is captured, checking the wirelesssignature of the POS, verifying that the SDWI information of the user'smobile voice device is captured, and comparing the wireless signature ofthe POS receiver to the wireless signature captured and reported by theuser's mobile voice device. A scoring system can be employed, based uponthe SDWI captured in the POS and the user's mobile voice device, and thesignal strength of each source, to estimate the probability that themobile voice device is located at or near the POS.

Scoring of a wireless signature can be done by giving more weight to MACaddresses, SSIDs or SDWIs which are repeatedly captured over a period oftime. This method of “persistence weighting” takes into account the factthat a wireless signature is likely to evolve over time as certaintransient devices in the area come and go, while other “persistent”devices are more permanent features of the environment, and do not oftenchange. For example, the SSID of a neighbor's router may come and go,while those of a nearby university and coffehouse are always present.Persistent ones could be weighted more heavily in a scoring system, asthey are more reliably associated with a given physical location. Thescore is based in part on the fraction of previously-observed SDWIelements that are present at the time of the current transaction. In theexample shown in Table 4 below, one Mac address has been seen for onemonth while two others have been seen for 35 and 30 months. Weightingthe addresses linearly by persistence, the overall score of the wirelesssignature is 74. Table 4 is an example only; there are many possibleways to weight and score based on wireless signatures.

TABLE 4 Scoring Example Score Months Mac Address 1 1 01-00-5e-00-00-r3 33 01-00-5e-33-00-r3 5 5 01-00-67-00-00-r4 30 30 01-00-6r-00-00-r3 35 3501-00-5e-99-00-r3

One may also, for example, weight by reputation, so that the morefraudulent transactions that originate from a wireless signature, thelower the score such future transactions will get. In the example shownin Table 5, the overall wireless signature reputation score of thewireless signature will be −8, as two Mac addresses have been seen 4times in 4 different fraudulent transactions. The practitioner mayemploy a combination of methods, and combine weighted wirelesssignatures with transaction histories and wireless signaturereputations.

TABLE 5 Scoring Example Score Fraud incidents Mac Address 0 001-00-5e-00-00-r3 0 0 01-00-5e-33-00-r3 0 0 01-00-67-00-00-r4 −4 401-00-6r-00-00-r3 −4 4 01-00-5e-99-00-r3

For example, a POS receiver may capture two different SSIDs broadcast bytwo different wireless routers. The information from the two routers maybe received with different signal strengths. The combination of the twoSSIDs and their respective signal strengths can form a wirelesssignature for the POS receiver at its current location. Comparing thecorresponding information reported by a consumer's wirelesscommunication device, i.e. the wireless signature of the devicelocation, to the POS wireless signature will help authenticate thetransaction.

An online entity such as an online bank, online security company ore-commerce site may choose to assign a “safe” score to an Internetconnection that the Internet user has previously been associated with,as identified by the wireless signature associated with the connection.For example, the online entity may capture SDWI from the Internet user'smobile voice device MAC address and the MAC addresses of externaldevices, such as the user's home printer MAC address, if both theprinter and the mobile voice devices broadcast MAC addresses. Thecombination of both SDWI and/or the MAC addresses of external devices,together may constitute a wireless signature.

Alternatively, the online entity may detect the SDWI or alternativelythe MAC address of the mobile voice device via another Internetconnection that is made from another device that is near such Internetuser, such as a neighbor who is using his wireless computer and suchwireless computer captures such SDWI of such first Internet user, whilesuch Internet user is accessing the online vendor web site. Such captureby such neighbor can take place near the time of the transaction orafter.

To secure transactions even more, it is possible to use Different OwnerWireless Information (“DOWI”) from the client's mobile voice device,which is obtained from another source independent of the mobile voicedevice and such other source device is owned by a different owner thansaid mobile voice device. An example of DOWI is the mobile voice devicegeographical location, MAC address, phone accuracy, speed, direction orany other information provided by the carrier or other independentsource about the mobile voice device. Another example of DOWI may bewireless information received from a separate receiver where theseparate receiver is maintained by a different entity from the owner ofthat mobile voice device. Example for such entity maybe a neighbor ofsuch Internet user, a merchant, or any other entity owning a wirelessreceiver where such wireless receiver is an independent source ofinformation from the mobile voice device used by the user.

Using receivers that can capture SDWI, a merchant can know where aclient is with high accuracy because the SDWI such as MAC addresses andSSIDs are not broadcast to a large area, but rather only within a smallradius. Therefore a merchant or a group of merchants can spread routersthroughout a commercial area, such as a store or shopping mall, and bycapturing the SDWI such merchants can detect with high geographicalaccuracy where users are located, their walking speed and the direction.Such SDWI captured from two or more different receivers may increasesystem accuracy by identifying more accurately the mobile voice devicegeographical location. Using at least two receivers, some distance fromeach other, allows the receivers to determine the relative signalstrengths and distances from the mobile voice device. Each receiver islocated in a different location, and the distance from each receiver tothe mobile voice may be different and thus each signal strength impliesa different radius. Given at least two different distances from at leasttwo different receivers, a triangulation process can reduce the commongeographical location within which the mobile voice device may belocated.

For example, given at least two receivers in the same street, onereceiver located at the beginning of the street may capture SDWI fromthe mobile voice device with a very strong signal strength, while thesecond receiver, located at the end of the street, reports a very lowsignal strength from the same mobile voice device. This is sufficientinformation to conclude that the user is at or near the beginning of thestreet. If the first receiver located at the beginning of the street andthe second receiver located at the end of the street both capture thesame signal of the mobile voice device with medium and equal signalstrength, the user is at or near the middle of the street.

The combination of automatically broadcast SDWI together with the DOWIcan improve security for the vendor while reducing the time the user hasto wait in order to complete the authentication. At present, it may takeup to 30 seconds to locate the GPS geographical location of a mobilevoice device by the carrier, from the time such location is requested bya merchant or aggregator until such geographical information or anauthentication is provided to the merchant. Reducing that time willimprove the service for that user, and may increase the use of suchmobile voice device geographical information for anti-fraud assessmentand authentication in places or systems that require completion of userauthentication in less than one second. The methods of the presentinvention can be applied as soon as a receiver at a location identifiesa client's mobile voice device, because SDWI is available as soon as theclient enters a store or approaches an ATM and such client's mobilevoice device is automatically broadcasting SDWI. Such receivers canautomatically obtain such SDWI from such mobile voice device (such asMAC address) once such mobile voice device is near such receiver. Thevendor or bank can identify the phone number associated with such SDWIand request the geographical location of such mobile voice device beforethe client has identified himself at the ATM or has handed over hiscredit card.

The vendor can request the mobile voice device location as soon as areceiver identifies the SDWI identification of a mobile voice device.This method will automatically push a request to find the client'smobile voice device location, even before the client initiates atransaction. It is possible to locate the receiver next to an ATM orstore register, so that once the user is standing online next to suchreceiver, even before the client has handed over his credit card to thecashier, the receiver will capture the SDWI and request the mobile voicedevice location from the carrier, and it is possible to cache suchgeographical information of such mobile voice device even before theclient hands over his credit card information, so that if the clientdoes hand off the credit card information, the transaction verificationwill take place using such cached information. Alternatively, the vendormay complete the transaction automatically.

The invention accordingly provides a method comprising the followingsteps:

-   -   Step 1: A receiver captures the SDWI information of a mobile        voice device before the owner of such mobile voice device has        swiped or tapped his credit card information, or otherwise        initiated a transaction, and transfers the SDWI information as        well as the receiver's geographical information to an Anti-Fraud        Assessment system;    -   Step 2: The Anti-Fraud Assessment System requests the mobile        voice device location from the mobile voice device        carrier/aggregator;    -   Step 3: The Anti-Fraud Assessment System receives from the        carrier/aggregator the mobile voice device location information,        and any available additional geographical information about such        mobile voice device location, such as phone accuracy;    -   Step 4: After the mobile voice device owner has tapped or swiped        his credit card at a POS/ATM, or has otherwise initiated a        transaction, the Antifraud Assessment System checks that the        mobile voice device geographical information received from the        carrier/aggregator matches with the Receiver's geographical        information; and    -   Step 5: If the mobile voice device and the receiver's        geographical information do not match, an anti-fraud action is        taken, e.g., contacting the mobile phone by sending an sms        message or a phone call; or, if the mobile voice device and the        receiver's geographical information do match, the transaction is        completed.

Once the geographical location of such mobile voice device is received,the vendor then checks that the location received from such carriermatches with the location of the receiver/ATM/POS; alternatively the‘phone radius’/‘location error’/‘phone accuracy’ parameter from thatmobile voice device carrier can be used in order to reduce falsepositive by verifying that the distance between such receiver and suchmobile voice device is within the phone accuracy parameter provided fromsuch carrier, and if that condition is met the locations are deemed tomatch. This can prevent transactions by a fraudster who is carrying amobile device that has been modified to broadcast the MAC address of alegitimate customer. For example, while a client is standing in theregister line at a store location, a receiver determines that theclient's mobile voice device MAC address is near such register. Thesystem checks a database for a mobile phone number associated with suchMAC address. The system then requests from a carrier or an aggregatorthe mobile voice device location information. The system then checksthat the mobile voice device location received from the carrier matcheswith the receiver/store location information, or that the mobile voicedevice location and the receiver/store are within the phone accuracyreceived from the carrier. For example, if the distance between themobile phone and the receiver is 0.3 miles and the phoneaccuracy/location error received from the carrier is 0.5 mile, the phoneand the receiver are within the phone accuracy distance. Anotherpossible method can be by getting the mobile voice device wirelesssignature and checking it against the wireless signature of thePOS/ATM/Receiver. To improve verification even more, it is possible tocombine both methods: 1. Check the geographical information of themobile phone as it received from the carrier against the geographicalinformation of such POS/ATM/Receiver and 2. Check the wireless signatureas it was received from the mobile voice device against the wirelesssignature of the POS/Receiver/ATM.

Another possible comparison can be between the receiver, the DOWIprovided from the carrier and the wireless information captured from themobile voice device.

For online users, an online vendor website at the first login canassociate the Internet user's computer signature, IP address or anyother network or computer identifier with a phone number or SDWI or theInternet user's account with such online vendor. An example of such anaccount can be an Amazon.com™ account, an Internet email account or anonline bank account. Once such user connects for a second time to suchweb site, the web site can identify the computer signature/IP addressand automatically request the phone location before such user starts thelogin process or identification process. Such first and second web sitevisits can be to the same web site or can be to two different web sites.

In one embodiment of the invention, a geographic comparison is madebetween the geographical location identified by the SDWI of a mobilevoice device, as detected by a receiver, and a second geographicallocation of said mobile voice device provided from at least one othersource independent from such receiver. Such other source may be, forexample, the carrier or the owner or operator of a receiver.

In this embodiment, the following steps are carried out:

-   -   a. A receiver obtains mobile voice device SDWI from the device,        such as Wi-Fi™, Bluetooth™ or MAC address, while such mobile        voice device is within the range of such receiver.    -   b. The geographical location of such mobile voice device is        obtained from a second source that is independent from the SDWI.        Such second source maybe a carrier, and may also provide        additional parameters such as phone accuracy. Alternatively,        such second source may be a software company while such mobile        voice device contains software of such software company Example        for such application can be “angry birds”. Such software        installed on such mobile voice device can provide additional        information about the owner of such mobile voice device and        about the device itself Example for personal information can be:        email address, contacts information, SMS information. example        for mobile voice device information maybe: Mac Address, Phone        Number, S/N, OS information, Wi-Fi™ address, Bluetooth™, IMEI,        ICCID, carrier, Model.    -   c. A geographical verification is made that the SDWI is within        said phone accuracy distance from the geographical location of        such receiver, to verify that the distance between the two        locations is within a predetermined limit, or within the phone        accuracy parameter.    -   d. If the distance between the two locations is not within the        phone accuracy parameter, the transaction is declined or another        action is taken, like sending a message to the mobile phone        owner.    -   e. If the distance between the two locations is within the phone        accuracy parameter or within the predetermine distance, the        transaction is accepted.    -   f. The transaction is completed.

In another embodiment, a geographic comparison is made between thegeographical location identified by the SDWI of a mobile voice device,as detected by a vendor's receiver, and a second geographical locationof said mobile voice device provided by at least one other sourceindependent from the receiver, such as the carrier. In this embodiment,the following steps are carried out:

-   -   a. A receiver identifies the tap information of one RFID tap        device    -   b. The receiver obtains mobile voice device SDWI from the        device, such as Wi-Fi™, Bluetooth™ or MAC address, while the        mobile voice device is near the receiver.    -   c. The geographical location of such mobile voice device is        obtained from a second source. Such second source is independent        from such secondary wireless information. Such second source        maybe a carrier.    -   d. A comparison is made between the receiver's geographical        location, as determined from secondary wireless information, to        the second source geographical location, to verify that the        distance between the two locations is within a predetermined        limit, or within the phone accuracy parameter.    -   e. If the distance between the two locations is not within the        phone accuracy parameter, the transaction is declined.    -   f. If the distance between the two locations is within the phone        accuracy parameter or within the predetermine distance, the        transaction is accepted.    -   g. The transaction is completed.

Another embodiment comprises checking the location identified by areceiver which has obtained SDWI from a mobile voice device, andcomparing such information with a second geographical location of saidmobile voice device obtained from at least one other source independentfrom such receiver, such as the carrier, a neighbor, a merchant or otherentity that is not the owner of the mobile voice device, and verifyingthat both locations are located within the phone accuracy informationreceived from the carrier. In this embodiment, the following steps arecarried out:

-   -   a. A receiver identifies the mobile voice device SDWI, such as        Wi-Fi™, Bluetooth™ or MAC address, while such mobile voice        device is near such receiver.    -   b. The geographical location of such mobile voice device is        requested from a second source, such as a carrier, that is        independent from the receiver location.    -   c. A comparison is made between the receiver's geographical        location and second source geographical location, to verify that        the distance between the two locations is within a predetermined        limit, or within the phone accuracy parameter.    -   d. If the distance between the two locations is not within the        phone accuracy parameter, the transaction is declined.    -   e. If the distance between the two locations is within the phone        accuracy parameter or within the predetermine distance, the        transaction is accepted.    -   f. The transaction is completed.

Yet another embodiment involves geographic comparison between a firstlocation identified by a receiver, which has identified electronic tapinformation and SDWI from a mobile voice device, and a secondgeographical location of said mobile voice device, which is provided byat least one other source independent from such receiver (such as thecarrier), and verifying that both locations are located within the phoneaccuracy information received from the carrier. In this embodiment, thefollowing steps are carried out:

-   -   a. A receiver identifies the tap information of one RFID tap        device    -   b. The receiver obtains mobile voice device SDWI from the        device, such as Wi-Fi™, Bluetooth™ or MAC address, while the        mobile voice device is near the receiver.    -   c. The geographical location of the mobile voice device is        obtained from a second source that is independent from the        receiver location, such as the carrier. Such second source also        provides an additional parameter such as “phone accuracy”.    -   d. A comparison is made between the receiver's geographical        location and the second source geographical location, to verify        that the distance between the two locations is within the phone        accuracy parameter.    -   e. If the distance between the two locations is not within a        predetermined limit, or within the phone accuracy parameter, the        transaction is declined.    -   f. If the distance between the two locations is within the phone        accuracy parameter or within the predetermine distance, the        transaction is accepted.    -   g. The transaction is completed.

The mobile voice device SDWI can be utilized for purposes other thansecurity. For example, a client carrying a mobile voice device may pass,with his mobile voice device, near a merchant's receiver. The receivercan automatically capture the SDWI from the mobile voice device. Sincethe receiver is located in a known location the merchant can know wheresuch mobile voice device is geographically located. Once the receivercaptures the SDWI, the merchant can access a local or remote database torequest the client information associated with the SDWI. The merchantcan choose to personalize a greeting, product, discount etc. based onthe client's information and historic transactions. For example, anelectronic sign in the window adjacent to the client can display“Welcome Mr. Smith, how I can help you?” just as Mr. Smith is walkingpast the merchant's store.

This is different from solutions provided by systems such as Tagtile™,which capture the wireless information only when a client has entered astore, and voluntarily tapped with his RFID-equipped mobile phone on aTagtile™ receiver. The method of the invention automatically capturesthe mobile voice device SDWI without requiring the user to take anyvoluntary action, does not require RFID equipment, and can function evenif the client hasn't entered the store. In addition, instead ofinstalling a specialized application on the user's mobile voice device,it is possible to use applications that are already installed on suchmobile voice device and communicate with such user via such installedapplications.

Once the merchant captures the SDWI, he may need to translate thatinformation into a person's name or a phone number. For example, themerchant may capture the MAC address, but a MAC address is not a phonenumber or a person's name. Therefore, in certain embodiments of theinvention, the merchant will take at least one of the following actions:

-   -   a. Request from the carrier the phone number or contact        information associated with the SDWI;    -   b. Query a database that contains the SDWI and associates it        with the contact information; or    -   c. Build such a database during the course of, or after, a        purchase by the client.

By way of example, a person who buys a product provides his contactinformation, at about the same time that a receiver captures the SDWIassociated with the person's mobile voice device. At this point themerchant possess the contact information and the SDWI of the mobilevoice device, and can store the information and the association betweenthe two (via the close timing of the data capture). When the userarrives at the same store (or another store using the same SDWI), themerchant will be able to automatically determine that the same person isentering his store, and possibly customize a message or take otheractions based on what is known about the client's favorite products orother purchase habits. Another example may be a person downloading anapplication to his mobile voice device, wherein such applicationcaptures the SDWI, such as MAC address, and/or the persons contactinformation, such as a phone number.

Another possible method to associate a person's SDWI with the rightperson's contact information is by identifying the SDWI from twoseparate merchants or two separate locations. For example, the Merchantat location “A” may capture SDWI from 50 different devices, and inaddition receive the contact information of 5 different people who havepaid the merchant for a product. A second Merchant at location B maycapture the SDWI of 100 people and receive the contact information of 10different people who have paid the second merchant for a product. Thecontact information such merchants may receive may include, for example,the phone number, first and last name, billing address and credit cardinformation.

By comparison of the received information in a shared database, themerchants can look for duplicated information such as SDWI andduplicated contact information, and associate the duplicated contactinformation with the duplicated SDWI based on the timing of the dataacquisition. For example, Merchant “A” may capture SDWI, such as MACaddress 11:11:11:11:11:11, and 50 other MAC addresses, and may alsoreceive the client name John Doe with phone number 555-123-4567 while aclient pays for a product. It is not known at this point that John Doeis associated with any particular MAC address. Merchant “B”, at the sametime or at a later time, may also capture as SDWI the MAC address11:11:11:11:11:11 and an additional 100 other MAC SDWI, and Merchant “B”may also receive the client name John Doe with phone number 555-123-4567while the client pays for a product.

Based on the example above, if none of the other 149 MAC addressesacquired at about the times of the two sales are duplicated, themerchants may associate SDWI MAC address 11:11:11:11:11:11 with John Doeand phone number 555-123-4567. Merchants “A” and “B” may be the samemerchant at the same location, or at different locations, and maycollect the information on different dates. If the same MAC addressrepeats twice while the same person's contact information is captured,the system can, with a useful level of confidence, associate the MACaddress information with the person's contact information. A thirdtransaction in which both the same MAC address and the same personalcontact information are captured permits the system to assign a veryhigh level of confidence to the association.

Additional information may help in narrowing and improving the SDWIsorting process, by identifying information such as the time the personwho carries the mobile voice device with such SDWI enter the store, thetime he exits the store, the location of the store. Such informationabout the location and timing of the SDWI helps associate the contactinformation of that person with the SDWI of his device. Correlationswith other databases of other merchants, data obtained by the samemerchant on different dates, or possibly information from othercarriers, can identify the information received by the receivers such aspurchase time, entry time of the mobile voice device to the store, exittime of the mobile voice device from the store. It is possible tocombine such data from more than one receiver.

For example, with at least two receivers in the same or at differentlocations, the information received from a plurality of receivers mayidentify a friend, family or associate of such owner of such mobilevoice device walking together with the owner.

For example, if two mobile voice devices enter the range of one or morereceivers at the same time, by identifying two sets of SDWI (such as twodifferent MAC addresses), it is possible to observe that the twodifferent MAC address are moving from one side of the store to anotherside at the same time, or moving from one floor to another floor at thesame time, or exiting the store at the same time. A combination of suchobservations may be used to conclude that the first mobile voice deviceis associated with the second mobile voice device, and by inference,that there is an association between the persons carrying the devices.

Because Wi-Fi™ signals have a relatively short range and by combiningthe information of at least two receivers at the same time, it ispossible to know if a person is interested in one set of products oranother. For example, it may be determined that a MAC address wasdetected continuously for 10 minutes in the women's clothing department,or even at a particular display of women clothing from a particulardesigner. The merchant can conclude that the owner of that mobile voicedevice is probably interested in buying women's clothing, and may beinterested in clothing from that particular designer. This makes it ispossible to target related marketing efforts, such as salesannouncements, notifications of new designs and models from thatdesigner, and even personalized discount offers, to that particularshopper. Additional technical details, obtained from the carrier or fromthe SDWI, such as phone model, screen size and resolution, may furtherrefine the merchant's efforts, by ensuring that information sent to theshopper is properly formatted and will be properly displayed on themobile voice device.

A Wi-Fi™ router can detect a mobile voice device MAC address while suchmobile voice device passes next to that router. Converting that MACaddress to a mobile voice device number, such as a mobile phone number,will allow the practitioner of the present invention to know when themobile phone owner passes by the router. The practitioner can therebyobtain geographic location information without the need to query orotherwise communicate with the mobile voice device or its owner.

In general, the methods of this embodiment of the present inventioncomprise the steps of:

-   -   1. Capturing with one or more receivers SDWI from a mobile voice        device;    -   2. Optionally, looking up in a database additional information        associated with the SDWI; and    -   3. Taking action based on such SDWI and any such additional        information.

It is generally desirable for a merchant to maintain good relations withcustomers, therefore in certain embodiments of the invention, the clientmay have software installed on his mobile voice device which enables himto communicate his level of interest in receiving offers andannouncements from the merchant. The client, upon receiving acommunication or offer related to a given product, can indicate that hehas low or no interest, in which case communications and offers relatedto the product will be largely or completely discontinued. As analternative to specialized software, the client may be given theopportunity to respond via a browser (by clicking on displayed buttons),or via SMS or email (e.g., by replying with a yes or no, or with anumeral corresponding to the level of interest.)

If the client indicates an interest in a product (for example, pizza),the merchant can update a central database, which will push theinformation to other merchants selling pizza or related products. Thosemerchants may then contact the client with their own announcements andpromotions. Alternatively, a merchant whose receiver(s) have capturedSDWI from a mobile voice device can query the central database, andinquire if the client associated with that SDWI has indicated aninterest in products or services that the merchant is marketing. If theanswer is yes, the merchant can contact the client immediately via thewireless device (e.g. via an SMS message, a message from softwareinstalled so such wireless device such as a pop up message, e-mail, orrecorded telephone message), or via an in-store display, and presentappropriate offers and announcements.

A number of companies (e.g., Google, Skyhook and Navizon) have mappedthe geographical location of MAC addresses, SSIDs and IP Addresses,through the use of vehicles equipped with GPS and Wi-Fi™ antennas. Thesevehicles capture IP Addresses Wi-Fi™ MAC addresses and SSIDs as thevehicles are driven along the streets, and the IP Addresses Wi-Fi™ MACaddresses and SSIDs are geographically mapped according to the vehicles'GPS information. Google and Apple conduct similar mapping programs bytracking the movement of their handheld Android™ and iPhone™ devices.

There are significant limitations on this technique, which limit theaccuracy of the mapping. GPS accuracy can be plus or minus 3 meters,which may not provide sufficient resolution to distinguish separateaddresses in an urban environment, especially where the source of theWi-Fi™ signal is at a distance from the receiver. Since the Wi-Fi™broadcast distance is limited to a relatively small radius, there isalso an inherent problem in mapping the Wi-Fi™ information of deviceslocated in tall buildings from signals obtained at street level. Inaddition, such vehicles cannot drive on private roads, so that IPAddresses Wi-Fi™ MAC addresses and SSID located in homes on privateroads cannot be mapped accurately, if at all.

The methods of the present invention make it possible to map IPAddresses Wi-Fi™, SSID, MAC addresses, computer signatures etc. with amuch higher accuracy, because the methods use the actual address ratherthan the GPS location of a drive-by (or walk-by) receiver. The methodsof the invention map Wi-Fi™ information, Geo IP and PC signatureinformation automatically while interacting with an Internet user havinga known geographical location (e.g. a home address). Accordingly, themethods of the invention provide highly accurate mapping at very lowcost.

As used in the present application, “User's Geographical Information” or“UGI” refers to Geo IP, MAC address, SSID, computer/PC signatures SDWIor any other hardware or software information of an Internet user'smobile voice device, routers and other Internet and wireless deviceswhich allow association of such information with geographicalinformation. Examples of such devices include, but are not limited to,computers, printers, routers, laptops, tablets, or other devicescommunicating with the Internet which contain software or hardwareidentifiers.

As of today UGI providers such as Quova, Maxmind, Google, Navizon andSkyhook provide two-dimensional UGI map coordinates, but do not provideUGI height information. The methods of the present invention will allowmajor improvement in UGI accuracy and provide accurate heightinformation as well.

Prior art systems and services for fraud assessment and preventionattempt to assign geographical information to UGI information. Suchfraud assessment services already possess some of the UGI information,and it is therefore possible to assign such geographical information toUGI. The main limitation of prior art methods of assignment is not beingable to know if the Internet user is indeed at the transaction locationat the time such transaction takes place. Therefore, such assignment maybe done with a much higher false positive if the mobile voice device isnot being used for the transaction at the time of the transaction. Themethods of the present invention use the UGI information and check themobile voice device wireless location information in order to insurethat the Internet user is indeed near the location we assign.

The online vendor gets TGD information (e.g., billing address, shippingaddress, IP address, PC Signature, Mobile voice device information, andHTML 5 geolocation), and in addition may obtain mobile voice devicegeographic and phone accuracy information from the carrier. Some or allof this TGD address information is then assigned to UGI information ifthe mobile voice device geographical location is within a predetermineddistance from such address or within the phone accuracy distance.

As noted above, the “safe distance” between the mobile voice device andthe billing address may be larger in areas outside a city, where antennadensity is low and the user may be inside a house without GPS receptionand far from cellular antennas. In such situations it is preferable touse additional information provided by the carrier, such as the phoneaccuracy (location error), instead of using a static predeterminednumber for the safe distance, and assign some or all of the TGD addressinformation to the UGI information when the mobile voice devicegeographical location is within the phone accuracy distance from suchaddress.

The above assignment decisions can be improved by checking otheranti-fraud and historic information associated with the Internet userand/or the user's accounts, and assigning only in cases where theantifraud assessment approves the transaction. Such other anti-fraud andhistoric information may be, for example, computer signature, fraudscore and “out of band” verification. Examples of out of bandverification are methods that involve contacting the user, such assending a 4 digit PIN number SMS to the user's mobile voice device andrequesting the user to enter these 4 digits in a web site orapplication, calling the Internet user via IVR system and requesting theuser to press “1” to complete the transaction, or asking the user toprovide personally identifying information, such as the brand of car hepurchased, school information, insurance information, etc.

Billing information can optionally be edited to assign to the UGI onlygeographic data, such as state, city, street, street number, zip codeand elevation. The elevation may be estimated by the apartment number.For example, if the address includes the apartment number 7B, it ispossible to multiply the floor number by an average height per apartment(say, 3 meters) and assign an elevation of 21 meters above street levelto the UGI.

By way of example, the methods of the invention provide for thefollowing steps:

-   -   a. Presenting to an Internet user an online vendor web site, and        via that web site:    -   b. Receiving the IP address of the Internet user's Router (e.g.,        66.65.63.155) while the Internet user is using the Router to        communicate with the web site.    -   c. Receiving from the Internet user an order for a product or        service, and receiving said user's billing address, shipping        address, and mobile voice device phone number, either from the        user or from an internal or external database.    -   d. Requesting from the Internet user permission to locate his        mobile voice device.    -   e. If said permission is received, requesting and receiving the        Internet user's mobile voice device geographical        information/coordinates, along with any available phone accuracy        or phone location error information. (Such location can be done        using the carrier provider of such mobile voice device, via HTML        5 wireless location information, or via any other method known        today or in the future to locate mobile voice device        geographical location via wireless technology.) In this example,        the phone accuracy/phone location error is 0.19 mile and the        phone location is 40.7115, −74.0163.    -   f. Calculating the distance between the mobile voice device and        the billing address. In this example the distance between the        coordinates and the billing address is 0.07 mile.    -   g. If the distance between the mobile voice device and the        billing address is less than the phone accuracy, concluding that        the Internet user is at the billing address, and completing the        transaction.    -   h. If the distance between the mobile voice device and the        billing address is greater than the phone accuracy, concluding        that the Internet user is not at the billing address, and either        declining the transaction or requesting additional information        to validate the identity of the user.    -   i. Assigning to the received IP address (in this example,        66.65.63.155) the geographical location of the billing address,        and assigning an elevation if the address includes a floor or        apartment number, or if elevation information is received from        the carrier/aggregator.    -   j. Optionally, translating such billing address to map        coordinates, and assigning the coordinates and elevation to the        IP address.

The above example demonstrates assignment of some of the billinginformation to an IP Address used by an Internet user to access anonline vendor web site, with the online vendor using the mobile voicedevice and phone accuracy to increase the confidence level and reducefalse positives. The method can assign some of the billing informationin the same manner to other UGI information, such as Wi-Fi™ MAC address(and signal strength), Wi-Fi™ SSID (and signal strength), any otherWi-Fi™ identifier, any WiMAX identifier, Computer Signature or any othersoftware, hardware or network identifier of such Internet user orInternet user's mobile voice device.

The Geo location of one UGI can be assigned to another UGI. For example,the Geo IP 66.65.66.11 with Geo location of the billing address in theexample above can be further assigned to a Wi-Fi™ MAC address or SSID.Alternatively, the Geo location of the IP address can be assigned to awireless signature that may include multiple pieces of Wi-Fi™information and their reception quality (signal strength), for examplethe SSIDs or MAC addresses of nearby wireless routers or printers.

Other example is assigning the Geo location of the IP address tocomputer signature. Such identification can take place while suchinformation is provided to a Geo calculation system that does notcontain geographic information on some of the UGI information. Forexample the information provided to Geo calculation system may includelocation information of the Geo IP, but may not include Geo locationinformation on the Wi-Fi™ information or the computer signature or anyother UGI information. In such cases the Geo calculation system mayassign the geographical location of one UGI to another UGI. Example theGeo calculation may contain the new and updated Geographical location ofthe IP Address but do not contain a new and accurate Geo Location of theWi-Fi™. It is therefore possible to assign such new and accurate geolocation of the IP to the Wi-Fi™ information, SSID, Mac Address etc'

In practice, it may be necessary to reduce the high address accuracyprovided by the methods of the present invention to the buildingaccuracy, neighborhood accuracy, zip code +4 or zip code, in order tocomply with privacy regulations.

The invention has been described herein with reference to particularexemplary embodiments. These exemplary embodiments are meant to beillustrative, and the invention is not limited to the examples provided.Certain alterations and modifications will be apparent to those skilledin the art, without departing from the scope of the invention.Accordingly, the scope of the invention is limited only by the appendedclaims.

1. A computer-implemented method of locating the geographical locationof an Internet router IP Address using the geographical location of thewireless communication device of an Internet user; while said wirelesscommunication device is in communication with a web site, while said website is not providing phone service to said wireless communicationdevice, and while communication between said web site and said wirelesscommunication device is done via said router; the method comprising thecomputer-implemented steps of: a) said web site identifying saidrouter's IP address while said wireless communication device isaccessing said web site via said router; b) said web site requesting andreceiving the geographical location of said wireless communicationdevice; and c) said web site locating said router's IP addressgeographical location at said geographical location of said wirelesscommunication device.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said at least onestep of determining a geographic location using said wirelesscommunication device, comprises use of at least one system selected fromthe group consisting of: a) Global Positioning Systems (GPS); b)Galileo; c) WiMAX; d) Wi-Fi™; e) Bluetooth™; f) MIMO; g) UWB; h) RFID;i) Cellular triangulation; j) Cellular base stations; and k) Cellularantennas.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said wireless communicationdevice is least one device selected from the group consisting of: a)computers; b) mobile wireless terminals; c) smart phones; d) mobilecomputers; e) laptop computers; f) Personal Digital Assistants (“PDAs”);g) mobile telephones; h) mobile voice devices; i) devices with wirelessInternet capability; j) mini-laptops; and k) other devices withcomputing and wireless communication capability.
 4. Acomputer-implemented method of locating the geographical location of arouter's IP address using the geographical location of wirelesscommunication device, while said wireless communication device is incommunication with a web site, while said web site is not providingphone service to said wireless communication device, and while saidcommunication between said wireless communication device and said website is done via said router; the method comprising thecomputer-implemented steps of: a) said web site determining said IPaddress of said router; b) said web site requesting and receiving thegeographical location of said wireless communication device; and c) saidweb site assigning said IP address a geographical location of at leastthe geographical location of said wireless communication device.
 5. Themethod of claim 4 wherein said at least one step of determining ageographic location using said wireless communication device, comprisesuse of at least one system selected from the group consisting of: a)Global Positioning Systems (GPS); b) Galileo; c) WiMAX; d) Wi-Fi™; e)Bluetooth™; f) MIMO; g) UWB; h) RFID; i) Cellular triangulation; j)Cellular base stations; and k) Cellular antennas.
 6. The method of claim4 wherein said wireless communication device is least one deviceselected from the group consisting of: a) computers; b) mobile wirelessterminals; c) smart phones; d) mobile computers; e) laptop computers; f)Personal Digital Assistants (“PDAs”); g) mobile telephones; h) mobilevoice devices; i) devices with wireless Internet capability; j)mini-laptops; and k) other devices with computing and wirelesscommunication capability.
 7. A computer-implemented method of locatingthe geographical location of an Internet router's IP Address using thegeographical location of wireless communication device of an Internetuser, while said wireless communication device is in communication witha web site, while said web site is not providing phone service to saidwireless communication device, and while said communication between saidweb site and said wireless communication device is done via said router;the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: a) said website identifying said router's IP address; b) said web site requestingand receiving the geographical location of said wireless communicationdevice by identifying at least the MAC address of said router; and c)said web site locating the router's IP address geographical location byidentifying at least said geographical location of said wirelesscommunication device.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein said at least onestep of determining a geographic location using said wirelesscommunication device, comprises use of at least one system selected fromthe group consisting of: a) Global Positioning Systems (GPS); b)Galileo; c) WiMAX; d) Wi-Fi™; e) Bluetooth™; f) MIMO; g) UWB; h) RFID;i) Cellular triangulation; j) Cellular base stations; and k) Cellularantennas.
 9. The method of claim 7 wherein said wireless communicationdevice is least one device selected from the group consisting of: a)computers; b) mobile wireless terminals; c) smart phones; d) mobilecomputers; e) laptop computers; f) Personal Digital Assistants (“PDAs”);g) mobile telephones; h) mobile voice devices; i) devices with wirelessInternet capability; j) mini-laptops; and k) other devices withcomputing and wireless communication capability.